Charlie Rowcroft meant to be an inventor but mostly she fixes other people's mistakes. Then her new neighbour, socialite archaeologist Justina Fairfax brings a curious find to see if she can reassemble it. After which the chaos begins in earnest, with mad industrialists using mortless (undead) people to power their factories, druids on a traction engine who wish to thwart them, a retired pirate who just wants a quiet life, a stilt-walking dissenting preacher, the arrival of a freak show and other improbable personages and events who emerge as the plot unravels.